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Australia and the United Kingdom have been urged to negotiate a
high-quality free-trade agreement to help rebuild public trust in trade
liberalisation.
The agreement should include labour and environmental standards but
not a controversial investor dispute settlement clause, says new
research from two progressive thinktanks, the McKell Institute in
Australia and Demos in the UK.
It backs the proposed trade agreement
and argues the bilateral deal could be bigger than the sum of its
parts, providing a constructive way forward at a time of rising
protectionist sentiment.•Sign up to receive the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning
The study notes the prospective trade pact between Canberra and
London “comes at a pivotal moment in the economic and political
histories of both nations”.“While the UK’s Brexit vote is the most obvious economic
shift in that nation’s history for generations, Australia too is seeing
a resurgence in populist political voices espousing more protectionist
economic measures,” it says.
“These trends come at a time where internationally, a scepticism
towards globalisation and free trade in particular is rising. This is
perhaps most notable in the United States – a nation that leads a world
economy defined by liberalised global trade but paradoxically has seen
opposition towards that order reach fever pitch.”
It says that trade negotiators in Australia and the UK need to
maintain their focus on securing good economic outcomes but they should
also be aware that “a successfully delivered, highly beneficial and
highly transparent FTA between the two nations could help arrest some of
the growing scepticism in both states against vital economic
institutions such as liberalised trading regimes”.
It notes that Donald Trump’s election in the US has formalised angst
against a global economic system that a growing proportion of the
community feels alienated from, and the way to push back against that
sentiment is to produce trade deals that the public can get behind.
It says that, from the British perspective, as the May government
takes back responsibility for trade policy outside the European Union,
the bilateral deal with Australia “could be an important model FTA,
which it could then use for building new trading relationships around
the world”.
From the Australian perspective, the bilateral trade deal could serve
as a model to pursue separate conversations with trade officials in
Europe. Australia is also pursuing a free-trade agreement with the
European Union.
The UK is not able to conclude FTAs while it is still a member of the
EU but preparatory work is underway. A working group of officials is
scoping out the terms of the bilateral agreement with a view to
commencement in 2021. The UK leaves the EU in 2020.
The joint study from McKell and Demos recommends the proposed
UK/Australia trade deal include labour provisions that further the
rights and future prospects of workers in both states, and environmental
safeguards referencing the countries joint commitment to reducing
greenhouse gas emissions.
It recommends trade negotiators omit an investor state dispute
settlement clause in the FTA “in order to maintain transparency and
generate broader public support”.
ISDS clauses have been included in trade pacts to protect investors
from unfavourable decisions by foreign governments but they have become increasingly controversial.
There is concern that multinational corporations use the system to chip
away at environmental or health and safety regulations enacted by
sovereign governments.
The McKell/Demos study recommends the Australian and British
governments conduct a transparent cost/benefit analysis of the deal and
publicise the findings to build public buy-in and set a precedent for
future negotiations.
It says the scope of the deal should be wide enough to ensure
tangible economic benefits are delivered, covering off trade in goods
and services and labour mobility between the jurisdictions. Australia
has signalled it wants to use the negotiations to secure reciprocal
enhanced visa arrangements.
“The Australia-UK FTA should be used as an opportunity for both
states to ensure the standards of supply chains across all industries
meet a minimum standard to help eradicate global transgressions of
workers rights, and end modern slavery,” the report says.
Sam Crosby, the executive director of the McKell Institute, and now
Labor candidate for the Sydney seat of Reid, told Guardian Australia
that progressives’ supportive of open markets and trade liberalisation
needed to understand the challenges of the current environment, and keep
evolving.
“The conservatives have fallen into the trap of reciting the old
stale script on FTAs and assuming working people will applaud, and
[progressives] should not make the same mistake,” Crosby said.“All over the developed world we can see how easily free
trade can be demonised and scapegoated. But, unlike the conservatives,
we should not be reflexively defensive or dismissive. We should be
responsive.
“The relationship between Australia and the UK presents an
outstanding opportunity to negotiate a new kind of FTA that delivers
real economic benefit, while simultaneously earning a broad social
license.
“Free trade, if done right, should bolster living standards and equality. It is up to progressives to make the case for how.”

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